November 15, 2010

We made fire, cooked pre-cooked hot dogs on sharpened sticks, ran, threw rocks in holes, made a bridge, flew rubber band propelled planes, played tag, and roasted marshmallows. And we made an outdoor table out of the blue stone slab that used to be under the wood stove.

November 9, 2010

November 8, 2010

We have a new love in our lives. It's a good old fashioned family owned place on Route 212 in Saugerties called Smokehouse of the Catskills. While they may have the worst representation on the Internet, they have some of the best German/Catskill food in the region. We've been there twice and have bought pounds of pure pleasure in the form of smoked venison kielbasa, regular (?) kielbasa, pretzels, pork fillet and skirt steak for the bbq, and amazingly smoked cheddar and another smoked cheese.

Next week I think we should go for their westphalian ham and double smoked bacon cut to order. Or the smoked pork chops. Or the various smoked sausages and salami.

You hunters (?) can also bring your meat to them to get it smoked! We are not that "mountain" yet, but we did post our first No Trespassing signs to fend off the hunters. Here I am cultivating my "private property" look:

If we were hunters it would be easy to find a target. These turkeys (7 of them) passed by our window yesterday.

November 2, 2010

We've been taking so many photos but have not tried for the big picture in a while. Mom asked for one that she could hang on the wall. We tried for it this weekend but the weather refused to cooperate. Too overcast. But here are the fruits of the attempt:

Mountain view (after the leaves fall)!

We wore our backs out a bit creating the fire pit from stone laying around.

November 1, 2010

We have yet to see a black bear on "our" property but they are definitely neighbors. In fact our neighbors to the east had to deal with one on their roof a few weeks ago, apparently going after their bird feeders. We have see bear crap routinely and saw young cubs earlier in the year up at North Lake. Apparently the population is growing. This weekend we ran into a 4'x4' area of earth that had been torn up in the search for bugs.

We are ever watchful and have an intelligent mix of feelings between hope of sightings and worry over mangled bbq grills, window screens, door jams, etc. I think we are willing to take some damage in order to share the woods. So far, though, the bear have been behaving and keeping their distance.